7.08.2013

Techweek, the annual conference for all things technology recently came to Chicago. Social Media Club Chicago helped celebrate by hosting a "Mappy Hour" at Google. On a very rainy day in June, social media enthusiasts and Techweek attendants turned out to Google's Chicago office. At 5:30 pm, guests began mingling and snacking on fresh fruit fruit, veggies and drinking from a selection of beers, wine, and soft drinks. To begin the event, SMCC President Jeff Willinger welcomed everyone and introduced former SMCC Board Member Amy Ravit Korin, Regional Community Manager Lead of MidWest US for Google. She explained that Google would soon be coming out with their new maps, and that Aaron Babst would go over them in full detail during his presentation. Aaron is a community manager for Google and runs @GoogleLocalCHI and @GoogleLocalPDX.

Aaron showed us how Google was able to stitch together photos of the same places to create mini virtual tours of places like the Vatican. He said "Our goal is to map the entire planet and you guys can help us do that. Anyone can edit Google maps." Motivate Design captured this clip on Vine. The new maps are entirely interactive, so you can click on areas and the map will display places related to your search terms, and how to get there. You can even see bicycle routes and flights right from the map! Google will soon be rolling the new maps out. But for now you can request an invite here.